A Doctor Writes – new PhotoSAF Sharing is making life simpler!

Published: 17th May 2018

Dr David Griffiths is a practising GP and the Medical Director of Consultant Connect. Last November he wrote about how the difficulty of taking clinical photos securely and safely influenced the decision to develop PhotoSAF. Here he explains what led to the creation of PhotoSAF Sharing – a simple new way of sharing photos directly […]

Dr David Griffiths is a practising GP and the Medical Director of Consultant Connect. Last November he wrote about how the difficulty of taking clinical photos securely and safely influenced the decision to develop PhotoSAF. Here he explains what led to the creation of PhotoSAF Sharing – a simple new way of sharing photos directly with specialists.

In November, I wrote about my frustrations with ‘multi-click processes’ and, in particular, the unnecessary difficulty of the simple act of taking and recording a clinical photo. The PhotoSAFapp is extremely helpful, allowing me to take a photo and link it to a patient without storing any sensitive information on my phone.

However, I often want to share photos with a specialist to receive expert advice on either diagnosis or management. And I want to do this as quickly as possible.

Thankfully, the development team at Consultant Connect have been hard at work creating PhotoSAF Sharing,a solution for my mouse-click angst. PhotoSAF Sharing means that I can send a photo to the consultant team at my local trust directly from the app in under a minute. No mouse-clicks and just one screen-tap and the consultants will receive notification that there is a file requiring their attention.

All the consultant has to do is log in to their team’s PhotoSAF portal where the photo will be immediately accessible. They can do this at a convenient moment (from any device), avoiding any disruption to their clinical work. There is no need for them to download anything, which keeps the data secure.

The consultant can use the portal to send me a message, without having to open email or search for an address, which I will be able to access from my own portal.

My secretarial or administrative colleagues also have access to the portal, which means the information can be transferred into the clinical notes.

Before PhotoSAF Sharing I would set myself a reminder to send an email for advice (it used to take too long for me to do it immediately). Sometimes this meant that I also had to remember the clinical story (which I may have forgotten by the time I’ve got around to sending the email!). Any task which is postponed is at risk of being missed.

So, for me, the time saving benefits of using PhotoSAF Sharing are less important than the fact that my life is just simpler. I also think it’s safer for me and for patients as I can quickly complete any request for advice in seconds.